GREECE BOMBED FROM ITALY

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 10, 7 October 1943, Page 5

GREECE BOMBED FROM ITALY

First Raid From West BRENNER PASS ALSO

ATTACKED (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, October 5. Using new bases in Italy, .medium bombers of the North-west African Air Force yesterday raided German-held possessions in Freece. It was the first time the. Germans in the Balkans have had to meet attack from the west. Airfields at Menidi, just north of Athens, and Argos, in the Peloponnese, .north-east of Sparta, were attacked. Hits were scored on hangars, runways anud administrative buildings at Menidi, and at Argos a large number of aircraft were destroyed, on the ground. . A correspondent says the Germans seem to have been taken by surprise by the raids on Greece from an unexpected quarter, and points out that they are only a forerunner of many more attacks against these once-dis-tant enemy targets. These targets have always been well within range of aircraft from the Middle East, and now they are doubly threatened. Athens is some 320 miles east of the toe of Italy. Fortresses, making their third trip to Bolzano, 30 miles south of the Brenner Pass, launched a most destructive attack

on bridges over the Isarco River, putting them out of commission for some time and blocking supplies from ' Germany to Italy over this direct route. Over Bolzano four enemy aircraft were destroyed. Wellingtons once more raided the coastal town of For*nia, north-east of Naples. A huge explosion caused by a 40001 b. bomb- was observed.

Except in the Bolzano raid, our aircraft had no enemy air opposition to meet. Formations of Fortresses which went to Fisa met no. enemy fighters and dropped their bombs unopposed in the centre of the marshalling yards. Pisa is one of the main centres of western Italy for distribution of supplies from the industrial north to the battle fronts south of Rome. These long-range daylight raids went hand-in-hand with raids by medium bombers which attacked targets east of Naples. A force of enemy aircraft was intercepted over the Adriatic coastal city, of Termoli and one was destroyed, making a total of five enemy planes shot down during the 24 hours.